AI Agent Turns PDF Comments Into Edits
A simple tool built in 30 minutes let colleagues leave comments on a document and have an AI agent make the changes directly.
Developed from a conversation between Pete Winn, Skyler Westby and Andy David
Alex Gladstein at the Human Rights Foundation had been using AI agents to produce board presentations, annual reports and other documents from information shared by his Freedom Tech team. After seeing one of the finished PDFs, Skyler Westby suggested building a simple tool that would let colleagues leave comments directly on the document and have an agent make the requested changes.
About 30 minutes later, Gladstein had a working application. The PDF was displayed on a large canvas where colleagues could leave comments on specific parts of the document. An AI agent could then pick up those comments and make the changes without anyone having to manually work through the feedback.
Gladstein started experimenting with the same approach for video, allowing people to comment on individual elements and have an agent revise them. Skyler estimated that the process saved around two weeks of editing work. He also saw the potential for organisations to create similar tools whenever teams needed to review and revise material together, rather than relying on conventional editing software.